Sawtelle 2018

It is kinda fun to walk around and window shop, check out Giant Robot and that hipster clothing spot next to Tsujita annex. Went on a Tuesday eve recently and there were so many people on the street it reminded me of Westwood back in the day.

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Walked by the old Korean Super location on Sawtelle and it looks like the 26 Beach peeps are about to open a burger joint in that space.

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Black Sheep Burger looks like it’s open. At least the door was open today. Here’s a pic of the menu.

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I haven’t seen anything written about Big Boi, the Filipino restaurant offering run by the people of B Sweet dessert shop. I haven’t had much Filipino food and never anything memorable, but this place really serves up good stuff. Wife and I really enjoyed the Pork Sisig, Lumpia and Pancit Noodles, especially the Sisig. They also offer a discount at B Sweet. After lunch we walked over to B Sweet and enjoyed the Ube Ice Cream folded into a nice sweet bread.

On Sundays, tho, they don’t serve their Filipino menu, but offer a traditional American brunch.

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Takuma is a damn unicorn for being a delicious but also reasonably cheap sit down restaurant in Santa Monica. If only the wife liked bonito more…

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I was a big fan of Takuma but my last few visits were really disappointing.
Wondering if anyone else has noted recent slippage…

We did about a yr ago, but I think things are better when Taku is in the back (and we’ve enjoyed our last few visits). We don’t go very often, though, so hard for me to say what it’s like normally…

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Tried Black Sheep and was pretty damn impressed. Got the namesake Black Sheep burger with cheddar. Patty was super juicy with a nice crust. Bun was nicely toasted though I prefer brioche. Staff is super friendly and really seems to care. I will be back.

PS: Hope you don’t mind @chowumla but I dapped your blog up to them :slightly_smiling_face:

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Much appreciated! Happy to hear that it’s worth the trip. May try to squeeze in a visit to Black Sheep along with a stop at Giant Robot for their Post-It Show this weekend.

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Hot off the press (keyboard?) from Eater:

Sounds like they are still months away from opening.

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But the Musha space is in Santa Monica, not Sawtelle…

Not aimed at you, but the article is rather strangely written. It says:

Surprisingly light on izakayas, Santa Monica restaurants like Ninjin and Kanpai are the few that cover the fairly large Westside city. There’s plenty more in in neighboring Sawtelle Japantown

Takuma is also in Santa Monica.

I’m really confused; what other izakayas are along Sawtelle except FuRaiBo? And why is relative dearth of izakayas surprising in Santa Monica? There’s also few Indian and Chinese restaurants there, but that’s not what Santa Monica is known for…

Does anyone have intel on the brothers’ other izakayas? (never mind, @Starchtrade. Saw your post about an earlier reference. Agree w/ @aaqjr that this is a good location)

That is a good location imo . At least you avoid Sawtelle parking

Musha - Santa Monica’s closure and incoming Shirube were discussed higher in the thread.
I was being lazy and did not want to create a new thread so I posted it here…

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Can someone help me branch Shirube to its own topic?
I tried and failed.

Agreed. Eater LA’s choice to not edit (or only lightly edit) some content before publishing is disappointing but probably a calculated business decision.

Mona Holmes seems to get a lot of the Japanese beat and unfortunately leaves a lot to be desired with her coverage.

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Really late reply, but fwiw, this was my impression when the place first opened.
http://foodtalkcentral.com/t/big-boi-filipino-food-on-sawtelle/7021

Minor update:

Flores + Sons is gone. Place always seemed decently busy when I would walk by on a random Fri or Sat, but who knows what the rest of the week was like. I really enjoyed the first iteration, thought the food was good (but not something I was inclined to eat much of)) in the 2nd iteration, and never went to the third one.

Lemonade has also gone the way of the dodo, and there’s a for-lease sign in the window. Since I work in the area, I actually really liked the ability to get something light and relatively inexpensive and will kind of miss the place (never thought I’d say that since they replaced the beloved Clusi Batusi).

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Clusi is definitely missed

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Good riddance. No gonna miss that Lemonade at all.